Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Johnny Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Preheat a skillet with lard over medium heat.
In a bowl, mix baking soda, sugar, cream of tartar, egg, sweet milk, Indian meal, flour, and salt until well combined.
Cook and serve
Spoon the batter into the skillet to form round cakes about ½ inch thick.
Fry the cakes until golden brown on both sides.
Split the cakes and serve warm with butter.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic cream of tartar to release gas, helping the cakes rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic component that reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets.
- Sweet milk
- Provides the liquid that hydrates the meal and flour into a pourable batter.
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal that gives the cakes their grainy body and corn flavour.
- Flour
- Adds structure and helps the cakes hold their shape while frying.
The step that matters
Frying the cakes until golden brown on both sides. Medium heat and a properly heated lard-coated skillet let the outside brown through the Maillard reaction while the centre cooks through. Too-high heat browns the surface before the interior sets, leaving the cakes raw inside.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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